Virgin Mobile wins Best Online Experience Award at regional telecoms summit

Saudi Arabia's next generation mobile service wins at first outing

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 28^th April 2015

Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia has won the award for Best Online Experience at the regional Customer Experience Management in Telecoms Middle East Summit, held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The award, which was open to telecommunications companies from across the region, recognised Virgin Mobile's innovative approach to serving members on social media and through web channels.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most connected societies in the world, with very high rates of smartphone use. Virgin Mobile is the next generation mobile service designed by this generation of talented Saudi Arabians, who understood that many members would want to access customer service on their mobiles.

Karim Benkirane, CEO of Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia, said:  "It's great for the whole Virgin Mobile team to be recognised for the online experience we have created for our members. The young Saudi Arabians working at Virgin Mobile are key in this. They know how they want to engage with a mobile company, and together we have built our company around making that happen."

Mobile access was a key focus in the design of www.virginmobile.sa. Today over 90 per cent of visitors reach the site using their mobiles, and they find a user experience designed for mobiles first.

Saudi Arabia also has high rates of social media usage. Virgin Mobile members can contact member service using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They are guaranteed a response within 20 minutes, day or night.

Virgin Mobile's social media communities have become some of the fastest growing in Saudi Arabia. Virgin Mobile now has over 330,000 Facebook fans and nearly 130,000 Twitter followers.

YouTube use in Saudi Arabia is the highest in the world. Virgin Mobile's member service team have developed a series of "How 2" videos on YouTube, to help members help themselves with common service requests.

These videos alone have been viewed over 1 million times in the last 16 months.

During the award ceremony in Dubai, the judges recognised Virgin Mobile's "truly customer-centric project", and for "understanding that mobile and web access should be handled differently".

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For more information Virgin Mobile, please visit www.virginmobile.sa
Website                 www.virginmobile.sa
Facebook               www.facebook.com/VirginMobileKSA
Twitter                   www.twitter.com/Virginmobileksa
YouTube                www.youtube.com/VirginMobileKSA

About Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia
Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia is a new type of mobile company in the Kingdom, which is on a mission to Make Mobile Better, one mobile phone and plan at a time. Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia was awarded a licence by the Communications and Information Technology Commission to operate as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator in April 2014.

Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia is headquartered in Riyadh and has a state-of-the-art customer service centre in Jeddah.

The company behind Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia is formally called the Virgin Mobile Saudi Consortium - a Saudi Arabian company that brings together local, regional and global shareholders and experts in mobile telecommunications.

Virgin Mobile Saudi Consortium LLC was formally incorporated in June 2013, shortly after the award of Virgin Mobile's licence by CITC.

Virgin Mobile Saudi Consortium LLC is part of Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa and has local Saudi Arabian companies as shareholders as well as prominent Middle Eastern and Saudi Arabian private investors.

About Virgin Group
Virgin Mobile MEA is part of the broader Virgin Mobile family. Virgin Mobile is the world's largest MVNO operator worldwide with 20 million customers in 11 countries including Australia, Chile, Colombia, Canada, France, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, UK and the USA. Virgin Mobile was a pioneer in the MVNO industry with the launch of Virgin Mobile in the UK in 1999.

Virgin Mobile is one of the businesses of the Virgin Group, a leading international branded investment company and one of the world's most recognised and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile & media, travel & leisure, music & entertainment, financial services and health & wellness. Virgin employs approximately 65,000 people in 35 countries and its global branded revenues in 2013 were £15 billion.

For further information about Virgin Mobile Saudi Consortium , please contact:
Halima Kamal
Action Arabia
Mobile: +966 55 7253 982
Phone: +966 12 682 7741
Email: halima.k@actiongroup.com

© Press Release 2015